The Ultimate guide to build your first pitch deck

As an entrepreneur, you'd probably have come across several pitch decks that helped unicorns to raise capital. Maybe it has inspired you; maybe just made you even more confused.

In this article, I will give you my main tips to help you build your first pitch deck. It will also be helpful for those whom already have a pitch deck, but the traction and interest are not going as expected.

I'll guide you through each page, talk briefly about design and branding, and show you the most interesting pitch decks from companies I've been working with.

What's a pitch deck?

A Pitch Deck is a series of words and images (pleeeease combine it with a great design) that illustrates your business model.

For many pre-seed startups, the deck is literally the startup, and it articulates the critical assumptions of your business and gives you a chance to tell people about it.

Pitch deck does three things: get people to understand, get people to care, and they get people to take action.

I recommend you have two decks:

1. The high-level information pitch deck - Use it for the first contact. You don't want to talk too much and overwhelm your audience. Instead, focus on the ten topics I'm discussing in this article.
2. The complete pitch deck - Feel free to include more information such as Financials, customers acquisition plan, marketing plan...

First things first

It goes without saying that before any presentation, you have to have in mind:

• Who is your audience?
• What is the appropriate tone?
• What is the goal with that deck?
• What is the call to action?

After having these points clear in your head, let's think about the content.

The ten essential pages on your deck

In general, I recommend you including:

1. Overview - What exactly does your company do? What industry are you in?

Here goes your elevator pitch. The simplest, quickest way to describe what you're doing and what makes your company so unique. The best tip I can give you is to KISS (Keep it simple stupid) and build your idea from there. Investors are busy and see hundreds of decks per week - here's your chance to spark their interest.

Use an analogy can be a good strategy here. Recycle Smart presents itself as 'uber for rubbish'. As you know how Uber works, you already assume that you can book from the app and they come to pick up your rubbish. As you understand the business model, it sparkles the interest to keep seeing the deck.

2. Opportunity - What's happening in the market? Why now? How big can you be? What trends is your company riding?

The opportunity slide is your chance to show the trends and markets conditions that will give you an entrance into the market and a competitive position. Show that you have done some research and really understand the market better than your audience does.

3. Problem - What are you trying to solve? How big is the problem? How is the problem currently being addressed? 

Describe the problem you are solving, how and why that problem is painful. You can start with high-level information about the problem and then make the problem a little bit more personal. People don't empathize with big, general problems; they empathize with the struggles of specific people with names and faces.

To sum up, show a big problem in a big market but showcasing a specific person.

4. Solution - What are you doing about it?

By this point, you already established that something has to be done to fix that problem. Here's when you present your unique solution. Show your magic! How is your product awesome? How will the customer's life be like once the problem is solved?

Make the solution as realistic and interactive as possible. Do an interactive demonstration, link a video using the product, use screenshots - anything that makes the idea visual.

5. Traction - What evidence do you have that shows this will be successful? 

One of the biggest mistakes I see early-stage companies making is to skip this slide because they are pre-revenue. Traction can be shown by: Revenue, updates regarding the formation of new strategic partnerships, signing of new suppliers, contracts secured with key contacts to execute your business roadmap, new users/ test users/ expressions of interest/ registrations from the target market, to showcase the demand for the product, formation of an advisory board/ assigning a reputable name in the field as an Advisor. expanding your capacities/ key new hires and any other traction generated (media coverage, networking, events, awards, etc.)

They say traction speaks louder than words - make sure to pay attention to this slide.

6. Market - Who are your customers? What's the total addressable market?

Give specific numbers for how many people fit your customer description. Include who are the potential customers and which ones you will target first. What is the acquisition cost per customer? What's the strategy and how much it will cost you?

Know your numbers: CPA (Cost per acquisition), TAM (total addressable market), SAM (served addressable market), Beachhead market (first clients), ROI (Return of Investment).

7. Competition - Who or what will steal your customers? What are your differentiation points?

Everyone has competitors. Everyone. List your competitors and how they compete in the market. If any of them have fundraised lately, mention it. Then, show your differentiation points and what advantage you have over them.

Don't be afraid of mentioning your competitors. It shows your market knowledge.

In this slide, it's very helpful to have a map of the competitive landscape such as the example below:

8. Business model - How will you make money?

Make sure to include in this slide different revenue streams that your business has. Include projections and critical insights such as pricing, cash flow, margin, breakeven.

9. Team - Who is going to pull this off? Why are you the right people for the job? Are there others who need to be hired?

This is one of the most important slides of your pitch deck, simply because people invest in people. 70% of investors take the final decision based on the team.

The goal of this slide is to build confidence and show that you have the best team to scale the business. Show passion, domain expertise and include the logos of the previous companies you have worked for.

10. Use of funds - How much do you want and why? 

Now that you've spoken about the problem, solution, competitors, market, and team, it's time to talk about the ask.

When it comes to raising capital, the best way to go is to ask for a sum of money that will comfortably get you to a milestone that will help you increase the company's value.

Consider that every business is different, therefore adapt and include any information and extra slides you find relevant to the desired goal. The most common additional slides are Product road map, investment highlights, milestones achieved, balance sheet statement, customer acquisition strategy, FAQ.

Building your first deck

Now, grab a piece of paper and make ten rectangles. Write on each one of them the topics above. Then, write Twitter-sized information that answers the questions I highlighted.

Keep in mind that Concizeness = efficiency, and avoid long texts.

Design

I can't stress enough how important it is to invest in an awesome design. The great and terrible news is that the success of your fundraising efforts can depend on the success of your pitch deck.

You can have the best, most-needed product or service ever conceived, and be the most qualified team out there. However, if your deck doesn’t shine, you are going to have a difficult time raising funds and gaining any traction.

At best, you’ll have to work a lot harder and longer at it than everyone else. And that’s tiring and expensive.

Evan Baehr says that "A couple of teenagers with no experience but an exciting idea and a great-looking deck can land millions in a matter of weeks, even with a weak business plan. That might seem unfair, but that is how it is, period." Ouch, right?

Additionally, good design improves clarity. As the eyes are faster than the mind, subtle changes in color, font, and style can dramatically affect our understanding of the subject and the audience's opinion about it.

Hacking your color palette

At Adobe's website, you can update your logo or some images that represent your company, and it will create a color palette for you based on that image. Make sure to be consistent with the colors in order to create your branding.

Some extra tips:

• Focus on clarity: It should be extremely easy to understand what the company does
• Know your numbers: There's no bigger turnoff to investors than a founder that does not know their numbers. 
• Test different narratives and define your style: try different ways to present until you find one that you feel comfortable with. 

Examples of pitch decks

Smart Oysters - Click here

AgriTech and Sustainability app focused on farm operations.

What I like about it: Firstly, they do a great job of showing the problem in an easy way to understand even for those who are not specialists in the segment, which makes a broader audience to connect with the idea. Then, they show the market opportunity, their farm-centered approach and the expansion plans. It gives you a taste of what they are building and creates a foundation to curiosity.

The design of the deck and quality of photos are worth to have a look at.

Fin-Pay - Click here

FinTech, Australia-based, unified payments platform (‘UPP') that streamlines merchant transactions by aggregating a variety of payment methods.

What I like about it: Before people engage with your company, they have to understand it. Fin-pay's deck makes you understand their idea by the second slide. The whole business model is extremely clear even without a presentation - that's the goal!

The design is clean, the tone of blue makes a statement and the branding is on point. If I come across any of those slides, I'd known that it belongs to Fin-Pay - even before checking the logo. Extra points for the competition slide "Us v Them" (9th) and Traction (10th).

Cheese Therapy - Click here

Australian e-commerce business connecting artisan food vendors with B2C customers and wholesale vendors

What I like about it: The photos from the very owners and storytelling makes you connect to the brand in a personal level. I also love how on slide 5 they show customer trends that are relevant to their idea, validating that now is the perfect time to invest.

Additionally, the way they differentiate the two companies Cheese factory and Artisans Bend is awesome! They use different colors, fonts, contrasts so you don't get confused.

Key Takeaway: When it comes to pitch deck design, don't be scared to try new things. Just make sure the colors and fonts you chose are consistent with your brand and that your presentation slides are easy to read.

Kora - Click here

US-based lifestyle & productivity tool to make Moms feel more supported and make their lives easier.

What I like about it: Storytelling at its finest! Instead of being limited to just other moms understanding the potential of the app and the gap in the market, Kora's deck invites you to a journey inside mom's minds.

The screenshots on pages 9 and 10 make it easier to understand the app - remember that we are very visual beings and the eyes work faster than the mind. The founders have incredible network power and they highlighted it in the pitch, answering the common question "Why you and your team are the best to do this?".

Hope it's helpful to bring your business idea to life!

Best,

Leila